Poultry housing



Aug. 31, 1943. F. H. GIGUERE 2,328,209

POULTRY HOUSING I Filed April 8, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q if Q .jrederia/ ifi were F. H. GIGUERE POULTRY nousme Filed April 8, 19:59

Aug. 31, 1943.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNIT-ED Pate-ma Aug. 31, 1943 mam meme F deriq H- serei .ll9lliif l antennae 8, 1939, are; so. 266 .852, one; 401.lief-er)? v My invention relates equipment iorhousing and broodingpoultry, and has ioruitsimain object to provide an assembly whichservesias atront for a poultry-house or division: which is or a'standard size and rated capacity which carries the forward and rearwardequipment necessary for the'successful brooding of chicks of all agesand housing 01 adults ior. egg productionJ A still iurtheroojectoitheinvention is to define the novel invention as an assembly of unitsiorming a front wall for divisions of an enclosure which line a passageor corridor by way of which all-access, care and attendance to thepoultry in the units are quickly and easily accomplished. 51 Anotherobject of the invention is to combine with the frontal assemblyanarrangement of equipment in positions best suited 1mm the viewpoints ofspace, economy, proper temperatures t rfl p ati n 01.11 a sme sca a yt epa e t x e de pr p iqh An additi nal ob ect or theipventiqn toincorporate the Imntel assemb a; en ra ly eaeted heatinsmni endheat momwith mean dvantage us dist ibu ion of controlled beat- J M Mather-objecto the in ention to Provide a two-mar batter bmoder rearwardly moor.-

n rat d inthen n ront a d plac d adjacent to the heat em... ea hflqqr.receiv nsits require supp f heat way or .a iustsble pen n the upperpart of the heat room;

n addi iona o je t ofthe nventi n s to rran t e equipm nt, such. a thebattery "object of the invention' is' to a facing or front from theviewpoints of installation and service of, and approachto the equip-'ment. 1 r 1. a i A further object of the inventioniis to providefurnished in sections according to the Size of. a

g ivenenclosure. f

With the above objects inview, and any others which maysuggestthemselves from the descrip- :tion te-tollqw, a better understanding ofthe invention may be hadby reference to the accompanying drawings, 1 inI which" Fig. .11 is 3;..D8ISDBCbi-VB view of a complete vertical unitoripeniront as 'viewed from the corridor, partly in section; i

Fig. 2 is an enlarged left-hand side view .of Fight with thecorresponding end wall of the enclosure removed;

Fig.: 3 isan enlarged plan view of one end portion of a; feed trough;and

Fig. is a perspective section of the end portion of the feed trough. i

It isqa familiar'fact 'thatmany failures in poultry) keeping andbrooding can be traced to ..contamination and disease through lack ofsanitation. The battery broader and the laying battery were evolvediroma. desire to improve saniopposite .tation and feed control, and theyhave been sueq d and heat ng u itsq th t a l the servi 7 orth rontal aseor co rido i i.

.Another object of. the; invention is to desi n the. novel systemalongunitary lines, so'that the attendant to th ame. is accomp shed bywy cost of housing and operating the equipment will henm 1. t an ex stingmetho s of c o reenl stm nt and desi ed quipment an be samecessfulwto amarked ,degreeu However; installa- -tions. of this character involvehigh costs for equipment and'bui'l'dings. to properly enclose the same;and theextremely' close confinementof laying hens in batteries hasrobbed them of the .muoh .needed exercise they previously enjoined\onthe floors. It has therefore" been my.inten tion to design aninstallation which eliminates thesedeficienciesand establishes a neworder in the art of housing and brooding poultry.

in accordance with the foregoing, I have illustrated in the drawings asamatterof example an enclosure or building best suited for the. unitarynequipment assembly, although it is evident that existing" enclosures orbuildings could easilybe altered to accommodate one or more unitsof' theThus, the frontal unit. primarily utilizes a compartment I0 adjoiningthe central passage =or-corridor I'l. mer ts or pens and onlyaportionlot the corridor have been illustrated, andanother assemblyvmayhe installed on the opposite side of the corridor.

A standard. assembly may have a certain capac- .ity; -and' when a demandarises for a greater.

capacity, a second assembly may be placed endwise of the originalinstallation, so-that the corridor I I becomes extended to serve theadditional equipment.

In contemplating the novel assembly, the same .maytbe constructed-witharframework of'steel or other structural material involving uprights. VI2, rails Hand gratings thallcontributingto form Onlyone of the compartaseries of pens and nests with a heat room interposed. The structure maybe erected above a line of cement blocks I! on a suitable floor l8, andany conventional means or connections: may be employed to adapt anenclosure or existing building to it for purposes of shelter andprotecprovided. As indicated in Fig. 2, the rear of the pen 2| has abracket frame 24a' to support a roll of waterproofed kraft paper 25,from which a sheet 25 is led downwardly and then'trained under a guideroller 21 to extend forwardly over the dropping platform as indicated at26a. One or more of these rolls may be mounted in the pen, as foundnecessary. The kraft paper'serves as a sub-flooring to receive thedroppings. The free end of this roll may be pulled outwardly to renewthe sub-flooring whenever necessary.

A heat room 36 is installed in the front of the pen assembly. This'heatroom has av partition comprising side walls 31, a rear wall 38constituting an emergency door giving access to the interior of the pen2|, and a floor 39, the latter being formed with one or more openings40. Below these the floor 24 extended from the dropping platform isformed with a grated opening 4| for the admission of fresh air throughthe perforated floor 39 into the heat room The heat room contains aheater 42 of a suitable type and size, and the heat therefrom isradiated from the heat room into the corridor to spread sidewise intothe pens.

Adjacent the heat room are the upper and lower brooder compartments l8and 20. These are for the purpose of raising chicks to the age of fiveor six weeks after which time they are transferred to the lower pen.Adjacent the heat room the brooder compartments l9 and 20 are equippedwith shutters 43 and 44 opening into the heat room, the shutters beingswung from the top and designed to control the amount of heat enteringinto; the brooders from. the heat room, so that each floor may bemaintained atidifferent temperatures when necessary. Due to the positionof the shutters near the top of heat room, the

one heating unit will supply all the heat necessary for the lower pen,and a much greater heat to the brooding units above, the heat enteringat the nursery or heater end of the brooder' compartments andgraduallydecreasing to room temperature as it passes to the opposite endof the compartments.

On the right-hand side of the heat room 36 is a series of nests and 3 I.Each nest is equipped with a slanting floor grating 33 issuing from therear of the nest by way of a frontal opening 34 therein. The gratingsterminate in troughs to catch the eggs laid and deliver them within easyaccess of the operator or attendant. The nests open rearwardly intothe-pen 2| and. are freely accessible to the birds therein.

The poultry pen front is equipped with a series of vertically-spacedfeed troughs 45, the form of these being more clearly shown in Figs. 3and 4. Thus, the sides of each trough are formed at the .rear withchannel guides 46 for a snugly fitted Floor gratings 22 and billed fromthe lowest feed trough is deflected into an overflow box 28. The feedtroughs are usually near the bottoms of the pens, but the capacity for agiven pen may be increased by adding a trough a at a higher elevation,as

; shownin Fig 2, a perch 45b furnishing access to .under the heat roomfloor.

the same. Feed troughs may also be provided along the outer ends of thebattery brooders l9 and 29, as'shown at 450. Fig. 1 also shows, as amatter of illustration, a simple watering system wherein pouringthewater into the top one of a vertically-spaced series of vessels 28serves to fill all of them. Thus, each vessel has an overfiow pipe 29rising in it to the desired water level,

andit follows that the vessels will fill in downward sequence, thepouring being stopped when the lowermost overflow pipe begins to. drain.Bottom receptacles 280. are also provided below the feed troughs tocatch stray or falling feed.

It is evident from the foregoing description that ;I have provided aunitary pen front which enables poultry of different ages to be raised,grown for sale or kept for egg production purposes, the care of thepoultry being effected principally by way of a passage-or corridorfacing'the vertical pen front. Furthermore, I have provided a broodingunit in the pen front of sufficient capacity to brood all the chicksnecessary for the rated adult capacity of the front or for weeklyrotation of broilers. Further, the arrangement of the central heat roomserves the double purpose of providing a general suitable roomtemperature as well as the required extra heat for the chicks in thebrooder compartments without additional heat units in thesecompartrnents. Also, the'heat room is constantly supplied with fresh airthrough the open spaces I have provided a feed trough that saves thefeed billed by the birds of all ages, and one that may instantly beclosed to prevent feeding at anytime, without removingthe trough.Altogether, the novel poultry pen front serves as a front wall for-apoultry house or fora division thereof created by the central passage orcorridor, and is adaptable to new as well as existing enclosures. It maybe supplied as one installation, easily assembled and standard in sizefor a given capacity.

While I have described the novel installation along specific lines,various minor changes and refinements may be made without departing fromits principle, and I desire to consider all such changes and.refinements as coming within the scope and spirit of the appendedclaims.

I claim:

l. A poultry brooding and keeping installation comprising a poultryhouse having rear and side walls, and 'a structure substantially forminga frontal filler between said side walls, said struc- 1 side.

room and the battery brooders adjoining the upper portion thereof,whereby to maintain a much higher temperature in the battery broodersthan in said compartments and floor space.

2. A poultry keeping installation comprising a poultry house having rearand side walls, a structure substantially forming a frontal fillerbetween said side walls, said structure and the space to the rear of thefiller in said poultry house including a poultry pen from front to rearfor growing and adult poultry, a frontal heat i room intermediatelylocated in the pen and rising the full height thereof, battery broodersin the pen front adjoining the upper portion of the heat room on oneside, and laying nests in the pen front adjoining said upper portion onthe other 3. A poultry house having a rear and side walls and apartition between said side walls, battery brooders for small birds onthe upper part of and a chamber for larger birds on the lower part ofone side of the partition, nests on the larger birds;

FREDERICK GIGUERE.

